The Baltimore Orioles tied an obscure record on Tuesday in a blowout 16-4 victory against the Toronto Blue Jays (box score), the first game of a doubleheader. Indeed, the O’s became just the fourth team since 1901 to notch five sacrifice flies in a single contest. (The Orioles also homered four times, demonstrating that good things can happen when you elevate the baseball.)
Outfielders Tyler O’Neill and Cedric Mullins each hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first inning, providing Baltimore with an early 2-0 advantage. Mullins would contribute another sac fly in the third inning, with Ramón Urías providing one of his own to give Baltimore a 4-1 edge. The last of the sacrifice flies occurred in the bottom of the eighth, courtesy of Jackson Holliday.
The three previous teams who tallied five sacrifice flies in a game were the 2008 Seattle Mariners, 2006 Colorado Rockies, and 1988 Mariners.
The Orioles have now scored at least 11 runs in three of their last four games, running their total to 50 runs. That’s the most they’ve scored over a four-game span since 2000, when they managed to plate 52 runs in their final four contests of the year. (The Orioles scored 23, 13, nine, and seven runs in those games: one coming against the Blue Jays, the rest against the New York Yankees.)
With the win, their fourth straight, the Orioles are now 49-58 on the season. They’ve been one of the biggest team-level disappointments of the year, and it seems likely that they’ll have a new look after the July 31 trade deadline. The aforementioned Mullins, fellow outfielder Ramón Laureano, first baseman/outfielder Ryan O’Hearn, and pitchers Charlie Morton and Zach Eflin are all candidates to move before the 6 p.m. deadline on Thursday.
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